Large cuts in staff for Camden, Newark police could threaten anti-crime progress

CAMDEN — George Watson won’t go out in Camden after dark. Instead, he stays at home and listens to the sounds of New Jersey’s poorest and most violent city.

"You hear gunshots," said Watson, 64. "There’s not a night that goes by and you don’t hear it."

As Camden braces for drastic cuts to its police department, Watson and other residents fear the city will be overwhelmed by criminals.

"They’ll be coming into the houses," he said. "They know you can’t call the cops. There won’t be any cops to call."

Urban police departments across New Jersey are slashing their ranks as the economy lurches and financial support from the state dries up. Aggressive young cops are turning in their guns and badges while older officers head back to patrol. And years of progress against crime on the state’s meanest streets are being threatened.

On Friday Jersey City filed a plan to lay off 82 of its 829 cops. Atlantic City cut 60 cops from its 365-member force this year, although it hired back 17 on Wednesday after wringing concessions from the union.

Last week Newark laid off 167 of 1,265 officers, a loss unseen since 1978. That year 200 police officers were dismissed, triggering a brutal crime spike leading to some of the city’s bloodiest years.

But Camden, already one of the country’s most dangerous cities, could face the most devastating cuts: The city plans to lay off half its police force if it cannot reach an agreement with the unions. The police department, which remains under close oversight even though the city itself is no longer under state control, would lose 180 of its 373 officers.

Pink slips went out Friday, and layoffs are scheduled to begin Jan. 18.

Police layoffs are a setback for cities that have generally made strides against crime in recent years, Rutgers Police Institute Director Wayne Fisher said. Although New Jersey’s 15 biggest cities still accounted for 50 percent of the state’s violent crime last year, their overall crime has dropped 31 percent from 2000 to 2009, faster than the 22 percent drop statewide, according to the Uniform Crime Report.

Fisher said success against urban crime — achieved through follow-up investigations and manpower surges in hot spots — will be jeopardized by budget cuts.

"If we learned anything it’s that you can’t ensure public safety by taking one police report at a time," he said. "You need a coordinated strategy. And that will suffer when there are significant layoffs."

BRICK CITY FLASHBACK

Newark, 1978.

Two hundred officers were laid off by Mayor Kenneth Gibson during a budget crisis. Soon the city was facing its highest annual homicide and robbery totals in the last four decades. By 1980, homicides had jumped from 109 to 163. By the next year, robberies had more than doubled to 7,778.

With crime on the rise, cops were left scrambling from call to call. Alan Muscarella, a retired Newark captain, remembers how officers would joke that assignments had "dust on them," meaning they were hours or even days old.

Despite some parallels between 1978 and 2010, Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy has insisted layoffs will not lead to more crime. "If you’re going to tell me that the challenge is going to get greater because we have less resources, I’m going to counter that you’re wrong," he said.

Although he cancelled an initiative that boosted police presence in high-crime areas, he said thinning the department hierarchy will keep officers on the streets despite the 13 percent loss of personnel.

But several top Essex County law enforcement officials, who patrolled Newark after the layoffs 30 years ago, said police came up with a similar plan then and it didn’t work. They believe a surge in crime is inevitable.

"To say I will do the same thing with that many less cops is not an intelligent statement," said Irvington Police Director Joseph Santiago, a former Newark police director. "It’s going to have an impact."

Santiago, who was demoted from sergeant to patrolman for a brief time in 1978, watched as older officers returned to patrol duties left by their younger colleagues, who were the first to be laid off under civil service rules. He said layoffs can demoralize entire departments, especially veterans who are transferred from specialty posts to street patrol.

"The youngest kids are usually the hardest workers, and I don’t think you can replace that enthusiasm," he said. "For the older guys, in their mind’s eye, you’re putting them back where they started from."

Muscarella, who was laid off for 20 months in 1978 before being rehired, said officers felt betrayed by the city, making them less likely to put themselves in harm’s way.

"From the time that I got laid off there was always that threat it would happen again," said Muscarella, who retired in 2006 and now works security in downtown Newark. "You always had that fear and asked, 'Why kill myself for this?'"

McCarthy rejected the idea that the officers who avoided layoffs would be demoralized or sheepish about their duties.

"Cops are different. It’s not like working at McDonald’s," he said. "Cops do what they do because they love making a difference."

McCarthy said policing styles have changed dramatically in the last three decades, pointing to former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s introduction of the CompStat system in 1994, which he says ushered in an era of preventive police work.

"In 1978 the police did not prevent crime, they only responded to crimes after they occurred. The police did not have the technology, the accountability and the enforcement strategies that were invented today," McCarthy said. "You can say what you want about 1978, but you’re talking about the dark ages. You’ve gone from ‘The Flintstones’ to ‘Star Trek.’ "

Noah Addis/For The Star-LedgerThe state has approved a plan to lay off over 300 public workers in Camden, including about half of the police department.

Belleville Police Chief Joe Rotunda, who was laid off for 16 months in 1978 and later left the city, said Newark is also in better shape today than then, a decade after the riots.

About 90 miles south of Newark, Camden is bracing for even worse layoffs.

But like McCarthy, the police chief there is refusing to entertain dark predictions of what the cuts will foreshadow.

"My job is not to deliberate on these issues. My job is to secure the streets of this city," Chief Scott Thomson said. "I can’t focus on what I don’t have."

It’s a challenge Thomson never anticipated, but one he said the city will meet. He said the department will be restructured, although he declined to provide specifics beyond saying officers will prioritize violent crime and street patrols.

"There’s going to be a massive reorganization within the police department," he said. "That means everyone is going to be back on the streets."

Camden, which has historically struggled to police itself, will likely have to rely even more on other agencies. Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk said his office already provides primary investigators for all homicides and partners with the police on all shootings, and he expects county officers will take on more responsibilities at crime scenes. With state resources already strapped, Faulk hopes for a continued commitment from the FBI and the DEA.

State Police have helped patrol the city for almost a decade, and troopers have been conducting "weekend surges" to put more patrols on the street, said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.

But more help won’t be coming from the state. Gov. Chris Christie said Camden, already the recipient of $69 million in aid for struggling towns, shouldn’t expect additional support from Trenton.

"Camden has to get its house in order," he said. "We are not going to have the taxpayers of New Jersey be an open checkbook."

The city’s predicament stems from its deteriorating financial situation. Despite a 25 percent cut in spending this year, the city faces a $26.5 million deficit in its proposed $138 million budget. In fact, its deficit is larger than its projected $21 million in local tax revenue.

John Williamson, who represents patrolmen and detectives as president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, said police layoffs may save money but will hurt the city’s economy in the long run.

"I don’t know any investor who is going to invest money to move their business into a place where they don’t feel it is going to be safe," he said.

Not every city has suffered police layoffs. Trenton considered cutting 111 officers — one-third of its 350-member force — but cancelled that plan last month.

But Camden may not be so lucky. The union and the city met Thursday for another round of talks, but Williamson said the best-case scenario would save only 58 of the 180 jobs slated for elimination, and leave officers with a pay cut of at least 20 percent.

Mayor Dana Redd urged the union to keep negotiating.

"There is an opportunity to save jobs," she said. "It is time to work together, and not to draw a line in the sand."

Redd said public safety will stay a priority in Camden.

"I sleep here every night. I grew up in the city," she said. "I’m aware of what our residents face each and every day."

But throughout Camden, many residents are pessimistic.

Shartesha Shields, 22, said the city is bad enough with the number of police it has, saying cops lagged in responding to her domestic violence reports.

"They respond. Late," she said. "They get here 20 minutes later."

Sean Dougherty, who runs a youth organization in North Camden, said neighborhood disturbances are acted on quickly when reported online.

"The police are very good at responding," he said. "You report an abandoned vehicle and it’s towed the next day."

Darren Battle, 41, moved to the Camden area six years ago after getting shot in the back five times in Newark.

"It’s no different, but Camden is smaller," he said. "It’s just like any other hood in New Jersey."